DNA links dead Gympie man to sex offences

Police have confirmed today that the body of a Gympie man believed to be responsible for a string of rapes and sexual assaults was found in a burnt-out car last month.

As a result, Gympie police said they had closed the investigations into nine sexual assault offences committed between 1995 and 2001.

The alleged offender was identified after an exhaustive review which began in 2006 of a series of linked sexual assault offences. The review also included an assessment of QPS intelligence, door knocks and voluntary DNA samples.

Gympie District Officer Superintendent Alan Bourke said three of the offences were linked by a DNA profile. They were the sodomy of a boy in 1995, the rape of a girl in 2000 and rape of a woman in 2001.

The other six offences were strongly linked by modus operandi and they were the rape of a woman in 1996, sexual assault of a woman in 1996, attempted rape of a woman in 1997, sexual assault of a woman in 1998, the attempted rape of a woman in 2000, the rape of a woman in 2001.

Operation Finn was conducted from a Major Incident Room (MIR) at Gympie and operated by detectives from Gympie District CIB with the support of detectives from the State Crime Operations Command’s Cold Case and Serial Sex Crime Team.

Supt Alan Bourke said a Gympie man was identified as a person of interest in the investigation and police attended his home on April 3 for a voluntary DNA sample. He refused to provide a voluntary sample.

On April 4 the man’s wife notified police that he had left the home on April 3 and had not returned home. A vehicle registered to the man was found burnt out in bushland near a rest area south of Gympie.

“An examination by Scenes of Crime officers located the remains of a human body in the vehicle. The remains were subsequently forwarded to the John Tonge Centre in Brisbane for further examination,” Supt Bourke said.

“Detectives liaised with the man’s next of kin and obtained personal items for the purpose of obtaining a DNA profile for formal identification of the remains. These items were lodged and examined by scientists at the Queensland Health Scientific Services’ facility, the John Tonge Centre.

“The DNA profiles from both the body remains and the personal items belonging to the person of interest have been positively matched to the DNA profile of the linked sexual assaults,” he said.

Supt Bourke clarified that at this time the identity of the person found in the burnt-out vehicle has not been formally confirmed.

“We can however confirm that the person responsible for these attacks is now deceased. Gympie detectives will provide the Coroner with a full report into the death,” he said.

Gympie detectives will finalise a total of nine sexual assaults. Investigations are continuing in regard to other possible offences.